This section introduces aspects that may be helpful in facilitating a better understanding of the invention. Accordingly, the statements of this section are to be read in this light and are not to be understood as admissions about what is in the prior art or what is not in the prior art.
Kitchen cabinets frequently have wood doors which are comprised of a wood frame and a wood insert panel that is dimensioned to have an appropriate thickness to be inserted into grooves around the perimeter of the interior of the wood frame (i.e. all four sides of the framing, including the top rail, bottom rail, left stile and right stile, have standard grooves in traditional cabinet doors). Interior and exterior doors, bathroom cabinets, garage doors, furniture and a variety of other items may also utilize wood frames and wood insert panels.
Traditionally, the wood insert panels are placed into the grooves of the wood frame such that the grain of the wood insert panels runs in an up and down (i.e. lengthwise) manner within the wood door frame. Wood expansion primarily occurs perpendicular to the grain due to the absorption of moisture in the wood insert panel. Hence, the wood insert panels tend to expand widthwise within the wood door frame when they are located in a humid environment. As a result of this expansion, wood insert panels located in humid environments have a tendency to press against the interior edge of the frame within the grooves of the stiles, resulting in cracking of the wood frames.
To solve this problem, door insert spacers are often inserted into the grooves of the wood frames. These insert spacers allow the insert panel to be spaced away from the interior edges of the frame within the groove. The insert panel makes contact with the insert spacers rather than the edge of the frame within the groove. The insert spacers will compress and allow a limited amount of expansion of the wood insert panels within the grooves of the wood frames as moisture accumulates within the wood insert panels. These insert spacers may consist of a variety of materials and have a myriad of shapes.
The spacers are designed to be of appropriate dimension and strength to be inserted into the groove of the frame while still making sufficient contact with the insert panel to center the insert panel and prevent shifting of the insert panel within the frame. However, the insert spacers are also designed to allow for compression of the spacers when necessary to accommodate expansion of the insert panel when moisture accumulates within the insert panel.
Insert spacers have certain limitations because they need to be of sufficient size to allow for expansion of the insert panel within the groove to prevent cracking of the frame, but the spacers cannot be designed to be too thick as they also must serve the purpose of centering the insert panel in the frame to prevent rattling and shifting of the insert panel within the frame. Often the insert spacers simply cannot be adequately sized to perform both the functions of supporting and centering the insert panel and creating a sufficient gap between the insert panel and the frame to permit for the expansion of the insert panel within the frame in particularly humid environments.
There is a need in the art for an easy to use, aesthetically pleasing, durable and inexpensive wood door that allows for expansion of a wood insert panel within grooves in the stiles of a wood frame while also allowing the wood insert panel to be appropriately centered and supported in the wood frame.